We’ve been discussing many automobiles on the ClassicCars.com Journal that had been a part of the buckets and console brigade — automobiles that seized upon this latent thirst for sportiness as influenced by imports and the burgeoning Child Boomer youth tradition. Our Decide of the Day is one other a type of sporty compacts that led the best way, a 1966 Dodge Dart GT convertible listed on the market on ClassicCars.com by a dealership in Kentwood, Michigan. (Click on the hyperlink to view the itemizing)

The primary Dart was a lower-line Dodge launched in 1960. So good was its worth that it truly poached gross sales from Plymouth, however the identify was transferred to the redesigned A-body for 1963, taking on from the Lancer. For that remaining 12 months of the Lancer, Dodge launched the sporty Lancer GT with bucket seats. “GT is our abbreviation of an Italian time period, Gran Turismo. It means smallish quick automobile for touring in a grand method. A automobile that can nook degree, cease quick, and depart the lengthy photographs neighing on the gate. That’s what the Lancer GT will do,” stated the brochure on the time.

It was solely logical for the 1963 Dart GT to characteristic related gear. “Dart’s reply for the sports-car fanatic who may by no means see paying a premium worth. It’s the deliverance for energetic folks fallen prey to unwieldy fuel hogs.” Commonplace was the 170cid “Slant Six” with the 225cid model of the identical. Like most automobiles, a three-speed handbook was normal, although solely on the column, with TorqueFlite being the one possibility. A four-speed was added in 1964, with a consolette being accessible for 1965 for these automobiles ordered with TorqueFlite or four-speed. However the massive information was the accessible 273cid V8 with as much as 235 horsepower. Tools was related in 1966, the final 12 months earlier than the Dart was redesigned, although now the Dart GT was accessible with a full-length entrance console.

This 1966 Dodge Dart GT is painted within the female hue of Mauve metallic, a coloration so stunning that males gravitate to it like Pontiac’s Iris Mist. “This 1966 Dodge Dart GT Convertible is greater than a automobile; it’s a nostalgic voyage into an period the place craftsmanship and magnificence reigned supreme,” says the vendor. “A mix of originality, class, and efficiency, it awaits an proprietor who appreciates its heritage and the sheer pleasure of open-top motoring.” The white vinyl bucket seat inside now contains a floor-mounted four-speed, changing the unique three-speed on the column. That stick is harnessed to a 180-horsepower 273 two-barrel, a pleasant mixture of V8 energy and economic system for these so inclined.

Different options embrace a distant driver-side mirror, AM radio, and tinted windshield. These objects assist make the drive in trendy site visitors circumstances a snap however, let’s be trustworthy: site visitors will cease for you once they see this mauve and white ragtop cruise the pike. Might life get any higher? For $27,900, you inform me!

To view this itemizing on ClassicCars.com, see Decide of the Day.